There And Back Again......

And Back To Work....

Well, Dear Readers, the Excitement of Travel is behind me now. I made it out to see my Folks and we had a Wonderful time, but it always feels much too short and passes so quickly! And yes, I have already begun another Ten leafy stems for the Summer Lilac Bush! I plan to ignore all the evidence of the Changing (or Changed!) Seasons and will just keep working on the Summer Lilac Shrub until it looks the way I want it to!

I got as far as adding the leaves to the stems before 

my fatigue caught up with me.

(Traveling 2300 miles (more or less) there and back again is not easy!)

As you can imagine, I made sure to bring with me

 a mini-project or two that I could work on

 while visiting with my family.

It was during last year's trip that I started stitching

 on the Snowy Village Christmas stocking, 

so it seems appropriate that I was able to finish it this year!

I still have to cut it out and attach it to the backing, 

but the petit-point is finished.

 I do Love how it turned out!

(And only one noticeable mistake!)

I am sure you will not be surprised

 that I brought along another kit to make

 because they are so small and pack up easily.

It is another Janet Granger Christmas Stocking... 

this time it is Santa, or Father Christmas.

I spent a lovely day with my Mom, Dear Readers,

 while she knitted socks

 and I made tiny petit-point stitches

 and we chatted and napped and had tea and cookies!

Of course, these stockings are a bit more challenging than they look!

The tricky part is in counting the threads properly

 between one part and the next!

I ended up pulling out the stitches for one section more than once!

 

And I know it doesn't look like much, but this is how far I got....

And yes, I have found a mistake in the counting

 that I will not be able to undo!

 I will have to work around it... 

I think it will be okay in the end.

So that is as far as I got, Dear Readers,

Thousands of miles there and back again, 

And Precious hours spent together

 Stitching and knitting.

And even though I miss them dearly.... 

It is good to be back to work again.

Paint While The Glue Dries.....

And Glue While The Paint Dries....

You Will think it silly Dear Readers, that I had forgotten how Slow going it was to attach the leafy stems to the Lilac shrub! You might remember that I had to attach so many leaves to the twigs that were already part of the shrub and then paint them and then shape them before I could even begin to attach the "regular" leafy stems to the shrub, and I simply assumed it would be easier and faster with the already constructed "leafy stems"! I was forgetting about waiting for the glue to dry. In the above picture you can see the shrub with all the attached leaves "shaped" correctly. It lets you see how bare the branches really are.... how much room there is that needs to be filled with the leafy stems. I have already attached about fifteen more stems to this shrub... all on the right side... I am not sure it is enough. I have made about sixty leafy stems so far in my ten stems per week regimen..... (on top of the fifty stems already on the shrub)... I don't think it will be enough!

At least I can "shape" the leafy stems much faster this way....

The above stem has been "shaped" on the left half

but not on the right.

Here you can see some of the "leafy stems" being glued on.....

 Just look for the large blobs of white glue... 

that is what has to dry completely before it can be painted over.

And because the stems have to be inserted around all the other leafy stems... 

I can only attach so many at once or they get

 knocked around too much while they are drying...

And the glue dries slowly in humid weather!

 

So while the glue dries... I paint the next batch of ten leafy stems!

Which takes a couple of hours altogether...

By which time the glued spots will have dried.

Above you can see a branch with a newly dry glue join

 (the stem on the right side)

Which looks too glossy and too much like a glued wire... 

so it needs to be painted over...

And I need to be able to keep track of all the newly dried stems

 so I don't forget to paint over the join!

It's complicated!

Here is a closer shot of the joined stem after it has been painted over...

it looks less glossy and a little more like the branch (I hope!).

So you can see Dear Readers, it is Slow Going...

Painting while the glue is drying and gluing while the paint is drying!

But I did manage to add a few stitches

 to the Starry Night Stocking!

And It Too is slow going! 

(Even though it has Nothing to do with Glue or Paint!)